The present invention relates generally to infant carriers, and more particularly to a front infant carrier and to a shoulder harness for a front infant carrier.
Conventional infant carriers are used by adults to carry babies, infants, and young children. Known infant carriers include back infant carriers and front infant carriers. Back infant carriers carry the infant in an infant-carrier pouch on the back of an adult, and front infant carriers carry the infant in an infant-carrier pouch on the front of the adult. Some pouches allow the infant to be carried facing forward (with the adult considered to be facing forward), and some pouches allow the infant to be carried facing rearward (with the adult considered to be facing forward).
Conventional front infant carriers include those having a shoulder harness including left and right shoulder straps which go over, respectively, the left and right shoulders of the adult who is carrying the infant. Some infant carriers have an additional strap in the form of a waist belt. The shoulder straps have ends which are attached to the infant-carrier pouch. In one known arrangement, the left shoulder strap extends from the upper left side to the lower right side of the pouch, the right shoulder strap extends from the upper right side to the lower left side of the pouch, and the one strap crosses over the other strap at the back of the adult wearing the front infant carrier. The shoulder straps are adjusted by changing a snap-attachment location of the shoulder straps to the pouch or by changing the working length of the shoulder straps using a buckle with some wearers doing this adjustment when the infant is in the pouch.
What is needed is an improved front infant carrier and an improved shoulder harness for a front infant carrier.
A first expression of an embodiment of the invention is for a shoulder harness for a front infant carrier. The shoulder harness includes an infant-carrier left shoulder strap having first and second ends attachable to a front-infant-carrier pouch. The shoulder harness also includes an infant-carrier right shoulder strap having third and fourth ends attachable to the pouch. The left shoulder strap has a lengthwise-extending first slot defined between lengthwise-extending first and second portions of the left shoulder strap. The right shoulder strap has a lengthwise-extending second slot defined between lengthwise-extending third and fourth portions of the right shoulder strap. The first portion extends over one of the third and fourth portions, extends through the second slot, and extends under the other of the third and fourth portions. The second portion extends under the one of the third and fourth portions, extends through the second slot, and extends over the other of the third and fourth portions.
A second expression of an embodiment of the invention is for a front infant carrier. The front infant carrier includes a front-infant-carrier pouch. The front infant carrier also includes the shoulder harness described in the previous paragraph, wherein the first, second, third, and fourth ends are attached to the pouch.
Several benefits and advantages are derived from one or more of the expressions of an embodiment of the invention. In one example, having the shoulder straps crossover on the back of an adult wearing the front infant carrier with each strap split in a lengthwise direction at the crossover and with the split portions interwoven in a basket-weave manner allows the shoulder straps to be adjusted on the adult without requiring the inconvenience of buckles to adjust the working length of the straps and without requiring the inconvenience of snaps to adjust the attachment of the strap ends to the front-infant-carrier pouch. The shoulder straps permit easy adjustment for various shoulder widths and torso lengths of the adult wearer. The shoulder straps permit such adjustment before the infant is placed in the pouch, with the later placement of the infant in the pouch adding weight on the straps to tightly hold the straps in their adjusted position. This eliminates the obvious safety concern of adjusting buckles, or re-positioning the location attachments of snaps, with the infant already placed in the pouch.